21: Chapter 21 Five Stores
Lin Feng stared at the system message for a full three minutes.
[Second Major Task: Within three months, open 5 co-branded stores for Joe's Fried Chicken]
Five stores.
Three months.
He looked down at himself—still the same pilling hoodie, the same shoes coming apart at the seams, and his old posture of squatting at the doorway with a straw in his mouth.
Five stores.
He smiled.
Joe leaned over from the side: "What are you smiling at?"
Lin Feng handed him the phone to look at.
Joe stared at the message, stunned for three seconds: "What is this? A task? What system?"
Lin Feng blinked: "Nothing, I made it up."
Joe looked at him suspiciously: "You made it up? Then what are you smiling at?"
Lin Feng stood up, brushed off his pants, and shouted into the store: "Everyone stop! Meeting!"
...
Everyone gathered around.
Lin Feng stood in the middle and cleared his throat: "There's something I want to discuss with you all."
Maria raised an eyebrow: "What are you trying to do now?"
Lin Feng pointed at the sign by the door: "Our store has taken off."
Bald Strong Man nodded: "Obviously."
Lin Feng continued: "So I'm thinking—we should open five more."
Silence.
Everyone stared at him as if he were a lunatic.
Mexican Guy was the first to speak: "Boss, are you serious?"
Lin Feng nodded: "Serious."
Google Girl raised her hand: "What about the money?"
Lin Feng pointed at himself: "I have it."
Joe raised his hand: "What about the people?"
Lin Feng pointed at them: "You."
The old man said slowly: "I'm seventy-two this year. You want me to go work at a new store?"
Lin Feng smiled: "You don't have to go. You stay here, keep spacing out, and keep telling stories to the newcomers."
The old man paused for a moment, then smiled: "That works."
Li Ming raised his hand: "Boss, I haven't graduated yet."
Lin Feng looked at him: "Where do you want to go after you graduate?"
Li Ming thought about it and said seriously: "I want to stay here."
Lin Feng nodded: "Then stay. Once the new stores open, you'll be the Chief of the Potato Department, in charge of potatoes for all the stores."
Li Ming was stunned.
Carlos raised his hand: "What about me?"
Lin Feng looked at him: "You'll be the Deputy Chief."
Carlos was also stunned.
Maria crossed her arms and stared at Lin Feng: "What exactly are you trying to do?"
Lin Feng was silent for a second.
Then he said seriously: "I want more people to have a place to go."
---
The meeting area went quiet.
Lin Feng continued: "When you all came here, you were all having a rough time. What about now?"
He pointed at Maria: "You have a place to live, work to do, and people to talk to."
He pointed at Bald Strong Man: "Aren't you getting a divorce? No, you did get divorced. But you don't drink every day anymore."
He pointed at the old man: "Your wife has been gone for three years, and now you have someone to keep you company while you space out every day."
He pointed at Li Ming: "Your mom is gone, but every day someone calls you Potato Hero."
He paused: "You have these things. But there are still many people who don't."
He pointed outside: "How many people pass by this store every day and don't dare to come in? How many people are squatting in other corners, with no one to hand them a Coke?"
Silence.
Maria was the first to speak: "How do you plan to open them?"
Lin Feng smiled: "I don't know. But if you help me, I will."
---
The next day, Lin Feng asked David Chen out. That Silicon Valley investor, the one he had rejected last time when he wanted to invest.
They met at the entrance of Joe's Fried Chicken—squatting to chat, of course.
David looked at him and smiled: "Still that same posture."
Lin Feng nodded: "Can't change it."
David: "What do you want with me?"
Lin Feng pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, with five circles drawn on it. "I want to open five stores. I need money, resources, and people."
David stared at the paper, stunned for three seconds. Then he smiled: "Didn't you reject me before?"
Lin Feng blinked: "That was last time. This time is different."
David raised an eyebrow: "How is it different?"
Lin Feng pointed at the store behind him: "Last time there was only one. This time there are five."
David was silent for a second. Then he asked: "How much do you want?"
Lin Feng named a figure. David listened without speaking. He took out his phone and made a call.
After hanging up, he looked at Lin Feng and said seriously: "The money is fine. But I have one condition."
Lin Feng: "Speak."
David pointed at the sign: "The name of the co-branded stores must include our company's logo."
Lin Feng shook his head: "No."
David was stunned.
Lin Feng continued: "You can add a line: 'Co-branded, but not co-miserable.' But you can't add the logo."
David stared at him for three seconds. Then he smiled: "Lin Feng, you are truly a negotiation genius."
Lin Feng nodded: "I know."
--
A week later, the location for the first co-branded store was set. Silicon Valley. David chose it.
The reason: "That story about your Potato Hero has gone crazy in the programmer circles. If we don't open in Silicon Valley, it would be a crime against heaven."
Lin Feng was squatting at the doorway, listening to this news, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
Li Ming leaned over from the side: "Boss, do you need me to go to the Silicon Valley store too?"
Lin Feng turned his head to look at him: "Do you want to go?"
Li Ming thought for a moment and said: "I want to go see it. But I don't want to stay there all the time."
Lin Feng raised an eyebrow: "Why?"
Li Ming said seriously: "The old man isn't there."
Lin Feng paused for a moment.
Li Ming continued: "The old man is still at the old store. If I come every day and he doesn't see me, he'll miss me."
Lin Feng stared at him for three seconds. Then he smiled: "Fine. Then you run between the two. On the day the Silicon Valley store opens, you go teach them how to peel potatoes."
Li Ming nodded: "Okay."
---
The location for the second store was set in Los Angeles. Maria chose it.
The reason: "When I lived there, there wasn't a single store within a three-kilometer radius where people could sit down. There are even more losers there than here."
Lin Feng listened and nodded: "Fine. You go manage it."
Maria paused: "Me?"
Lin Feng looked at her: "Didn't you say there are a lot of losers there? You understand them best."
Maria was silent for three seconds. Then she smiled: "Lin Feng, you really are a lunatic."
Lin Feng nodded: "I know."
---
The location for the third store was set in San Diego. Bald Strong Man chose it.
The reason: "My ex-wife lives there. I want her to see how well I'm doing now."
Lin Feng stared at him for three seconds, then asked: "Are you opening a store or staging a protest?"
Bald Strong Man thought about it and said: "Both."
Lin Feng smiled: "Fine. You go."
---
The location for the fourth store was set in San Francisco. Google Girl chose it.
The reason: "It's where I interned back then. I want to go back and let those people see that I'm not an intern anymore; I'm a store manager."
Lin Feng nodded: "Fine. You go."
---
The location for the fifth store was set to... Lin Feng hadn't decided yet.
He was squatting at the doorway, straw in his mouth, staring across the street in a daze.
Joe squatted over from the side and asked: "What are you thinking about?"
Lin Feng said: "The fifth store, I don't know where to put it."
Joe was silent for a second, then said: "Put it where my son is."
Lin Feng turned to look at him.
Joe pointed at the photo on his phone—the bald boy, thin, smiling. "He's still in chemotherapy. He can't run around. If you can open the store near him, he can come every day."
Lin Feng stared at the photo for a long time.
Then he asked: "Where does he live?"
Joe said: "Orange County."
Lin Feng nodded: "Fine. Then Orange County it is."
Joe was stunned: "You... you just decided like that?"
Lin Feng stood up, brushed off his pants, and shouted into the store: "The fifth store, Orange County! Joe's son makes the call!"
Joe stared at his back, his eyes turning red.
(Mine are red too—my eyes, overflowing.)
---
A month later. The five co-branded stores opened simultaneously.
Lin Feng didn't go to any of them. He squatted at the entrance of the old store, scrolling through his phone watching the livestreams.
At the entrance of the Silicon Valley store, Li Ming was teaching a group of programmers how to peel potatoes.
At the entrance of the Los Angeles store, Maria was handing out Coke to the losers waiting in line.
At the entrance of the San Diego store, Bald Strong Man was taking pictures holding up his divorce certificate with his ex-wife.
At the entrance of the San Francisco store, Google Girl was standing in front of the building where she used to intern, smiling and making a V-sign.
At the entrance of the Orange County Store, Joe's son was sitting in a wheelchair, holding up a sign: [My dad's store, it's mine now]
Lin Feng stared at the sign and smiled.
His phone vibrated.
[Ding—Volume 2 Task Progress: 5/5 Co-branded stores opened. Completed ahead of schedule.]
[Reward issued: $5,000,000 has been credited.]
[New Task Unlocked: Within six months, make Joe's Fried Chicken a nationally renowned brand in the US]
Lin Feng stared at the message, stunned for three seconds. Then he smiled.
He put his phone back in his pocket, continued squatting, and looked across the street.
The sun was nice. The breeze was warm too.
He remembered three months ago, squatting in this spot, with 500,000 in his pocket, not knowing what to do next.
Now he was squatting in this spot, with 5,500,000 in his pocket, one store behind him, five stores in front of him, and a group of people in his heart.
He suddenly felt—five stores, it didn't seem like enough.
[Chapter 21 End]